Tim McGraw Signs to Big Machine Records

Tim McGraw has signed to Big Machine Records, label home to Taylor Swift and Rascal Flatts, among others. The announcement was made Monday morning (May 21) during a press conference at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville.

The Louisiana native released 11 albums — plus several greatest hits packages — for Curb Records. However, McGraw had a long-running dispute with label owner Mike Curb over his contract and the way his music was being released and marketed. In 2008, he denounced Curb’s decision to release a third greatest hits album and claimed it was aimed at extending the length of his recording contract. The dispute escalated after he completed his most recent album, Emotional Traffic, in late 2010. However, Curb initially refused to release the album — the last under his contract.

In November 2011, a Nashville judge ruled McGraw had the right to record new music and seek out other record deals. Curb released the album in January 2012.

McGraw landed a deal with Curb in 1992. He released his first single, “Welcome to the Club,” in 1992, followed by “Memory Lane” and “Two Steppin’ Mind” in 1993, but none of them reached the Top 40 on Billboard‘s country songs chart. He had a breakthrough in 1994 with “Indian Outlaw,”
which peaked at No. 8. He scored his first No. 1, “Don’t Take the Girl,”
later that year. He now has more than two dozen No. 1 singles, including “It’s Your Love,”
a duet with his wife, Faith Hill, which spent six weeks at the top of the country chart in 1997.

He has won three Grammys, 14 Academy of Country Music awards, 11 CMA Awards, 10 American Music Awards and three People’s Choice Awards. In addition to his music career, McGraw has become a successful actor in films such as Friday Night Lights, The Blind Side and Country Strong.

Kenny Chesney and McGraw will be performing at stadiums this summer during the Brothers of the Sun tour which begins June 2 in Tampa, Fla., and runs through August.